Our Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs

Our Food Assistance Programs

Hunger has no boundaries. It affects millions of children, seniors and households in communities across the country. That’s why Feeding America has programs to reach children, seniors and families no matter where they live or spend time. At senior centers or schools, in the city or countryside, Feeding America programs get food to people where they are and when they need it most.

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Mobile Pantry Program

Fast and flexible, the Mobile Pantry Program serves many of the highest-need households — including families in significantly underserved or hard-to-reach areas — by directly distributing food in pre-packed boxes or at farmers’ market-style settings. Focusing on highly demanded items like meat and produce gives access to the food people need most.

Disaster Food Assistance

When disaster strikes, our network of food banks kicks into high gear, providing emergency food and disaster-relief supplies to families and households virtually anywhere in America. Over a recent five-year period, our donors made it possible for Feeding America to distribute over 100 million pounds of emergency food and supplies to communities and households in the days and weeks following a disaster.

Summer Child Nutrition Programs

Twenty-two million children receive free or reduced-cost lunches during the school year, but during the summer months, only 3.9 million continue to have access to those subsidized meals. That’s where the Summer Feeding Program steps in: In 2015, the Feeding America network served 5.7 million meals to nearly 180,000 children in partnership with the USDA and the Summer Food Service Program. Summer should be about fun, not worrying about the next meal.

BackPack Program

For the 21 million kids who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, school breakfast or lunch may be the only meals they can count on. So what happens when the school week ends? For more than 15 years, the Feeding America BackPack program has worked to make sure that children have access to nutritious — and easy-to-make — meals for the weekend. Today, we’re partnering with over 160 local food banks to distribute weekend meals to more than 450,000 students each week.

School Pantry Program

Serving more than 21 million meals to nearly 110,000 children across America each year, the School Pantry program alleviates child hunger by providing food to low-income children and families right at school. Having convenient, consistent access to healthy foods helps ensure that children never have to worry about their next meal, which in turn makes for happier, healthier kids.

Kids Cafe®

Across the country, Kids Cafe programs provide free snacks and meals to low-income kids at community locations during afterschool hours — like Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCAs — to reach and feed more children facing hunger. In the 2016 fiscal year, the Feeding America network served 27 million meals through 6,500 Kids Cafe sites and other meal program locations.

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Senior Grocery Program®

Seniors face a number of unique medical and mobility challenges that put them at a greater risk of hunger. Many are forced to make the tough choice between buying food and medicine, and others struggle to prepare foods as they once did.

The Senior Grocery program meets the specific needs of seniors by providing balanced, nutritious meals they can easily make at home.

SNAP® Outreach

SNAP — the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program, formerly Food Stamps — helps more than 46 million people every year. Designed to help families with critical and basic nutrition needs who are going through hard times, SNAP is often the first line of defense against hunger in America. But according to Feeding America research, only 41 percent of the households we serve receive SNAP benefits — compared to the estimated 88 percent that could be eligible. Feeding America works to bridge that gap by partnering with state and local agencies, family advocates, employers and community and faith-based organizations to help eligible families understand and apply for the program.